The Repertoire of Serous Ovarian Cancer Non-genetic Heterogeneity Revealed by Single-Cell Sequencing of Normal Fallopian Tube Epithelial Cells

Zhiyuan Hu; Mara Artibani; Abdulkhaliq Alsaadi; Nina Wietek; Matteo Morotti; Tingyan Shi; Zhe Zhong; Laura Santana Gonzalez; Salma El-Sahhar; Eli M Carrami; Garry Mallett; Yun Feng; Kenta Masuda; Yiyan Zheng; Kay Chong; Stephen Damato; Sunanda Dhar; Leticia Campo; Riccardo Garruto Campanile; Hooman Soleymani Majd; Vikram Rai; David Maldonado-Perez; Stephanie Jones; Vincenzo Cerundolo; Tatjana Sauka-Spengler; Christopher Yau; Ahmed Ashour Ahmed

doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2020.01.003

The Repertoire of Serous Ovarian Cancer Non-genetic Heterogeneity Revealed by Single-Cell Sequencing of Normal Fallopian Tube Epithelial Cells

Cancer Cell. 2020 Feb 10;37(2):226-242.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.01.003.

Authors

Zhiyuan Hu¹, Mara Artibani², Abdulkhaliq Alsaadi³, Nina Wietek⁴, Matteo Morotti⁴, Tingyan Shi³, Zhe Zhong³, Laura Santana Gonzalez³, Salma El-Sahhar³, Eli M Carrami³, Garry Mallett³, Yun Feng⁵, Kenta Masuda³, Yiyan Zheng³, Kay Chong³, Stephen Damato⁶, Sunanda Dhar⁶, Leticia Campo⁷, Riccardo Garruto Campanile⁸, Hooman Soleymani Majd⁸, Vikram Rai⁹, David Maldonado-Perez¹⁰, Stephanie Jones¹¹, Vincenzo Cerundolo¹², Tatjana Sauka-Spengler¹³, Christopher Yau¹⁴, Ahmed Ashour Ahmed¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Ovarian Cancer Cell Laboratory, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK; Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK.
² Ovarian Cancer Cell Laboratory, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK; Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; Gene Regulatory Networks in Development and Disease Laboratory, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK.
³ Ovarian Cancer Cell Laboratory, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK; Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK.
⁴ Ovarian Cancer Cell Laboratory, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK; Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; Department of Gynecological Oncology, Churchill Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals, Oxford OX3 7LE, UK.
⁵ Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK.
⁶ Department of Histopathology, Oxford University Hospitals, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK.
⁷ Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, UK.
⁸ Department of Gynecological Oncology, Churchill Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals, Oxford OX3 7LE, UK.
⁹ Department of Gynaecology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK.
¹⁰ Oxford Radcliffe Biobank, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Second Floor, Unipart House Business Centre, Oxford OX4 2PG, UK.
¹¹ Oxford Radcliffe Biobank, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK.
¹² Human Immunology Unit, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK.
¹³ Gene Regulatory Networks in Development and Disease Laboratory, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK.
¹⁴ Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK; Centre for Computational Biology, Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Division of Informatics, Imaging and Data Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK; Alan Turing Institute, London NW1 2DB, UK. Electronic address: christopher.yau@manchester.ac.uk.
¹⁵ Ovarian Cancer Cell Laboratory, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK; Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; Department of Gynecological Oncology, Churchill Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals, Oxford OX3 7LE, UK. Electronic address: ahmed.ahmed@wrh.ox.ac.uk.

PMID: 32049047
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.01.003

Abstract

The inter-differentiation between cell states promotes cancer cell survival under stress and fosters non-genetic heterogeneity (NGH). NGH is, therefore, a surrogate of tumor resilience but its quantification is confounded by genetic heterogeneity. Here we show that NGH in serous ovarian cancer (SOC) can be accurately measured when informed by the molecular signatures of the normal fallopian tube epithelium (FTE) cells, the cells of origin of SOC. Surveying the transcriptomes of ∼6,000 FTE cells, predominantly from non-ovarian cancer patients, identified 6 FTE subtypes. We used subtype signatures to deconvolute SOC expression data and found substantial intra-tumor NGH. Importantly, NGH-based stratification of ∼1,700 tumors robustly correlated with survival. Our findings lay the foundation for accurate prognostic and therapeutic stratification of SOC.

Keywords: fallopian tube; non-genetic heterogeneity; ovarian cancer; single-cell RNA sequencing.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous / genetics
Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous / metabolism
Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous / pathology
Epithelial Cells / pathology*
Epithelium / metabolism
Epithelium / pathology
Fallopian Tube Neoplasms / genetics
Fallopian Tube Neoplasms / metabolism*
Fallopian Tube Neoplasms / pathology
Fallopian Tubes / metabolism
Fallopian Tubes / pathology*
Female
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / genetics
Genetic Heterogeneity
Humans
Ovarian Neoplasms / metabolism
Ovarian Neoplasms / pathology*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding